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08 The Stolen Cassock

In an instant the wind was wild and the fire fierce, and the whole Guanyin Monastery billowed with black smoke and leaping red flame. The old man and his monks were caught unawares; they scrambled to rescue their goods, and the courtyard rang with wailing. But the great fire roused a demon. Due south of the Guanyin Monastery lay Black Wind Mountain, and in that mountain Black Wind Cave, and in that cave a black bear spirit. He had just woken and turned over when he saw his window bright with light. He rose to look, and there was the glare of the burning monastery. The bear spirit cried in alarm, "How careless these monks are! Let me help them put it out." He sprang onto a cloud and made straight for the monastery. Inside, he found flames shooting to the sky on every side. He could find nowhere to draw water; then he saw the rear quarters were untouched, and strode in. But once inside he saw on the table a bundle of grey felt glowing with rosy light. He undid it, and there was a brocade cassock — a rare treasure of the Buddhist gate. Riches move the heart. The bear thought no more of fighting the fire; he rolled up the cassock and slipped away through the confusion to Black Wind Cave. Not until the fifth watch did the fire die out. The monks wept and wailed as they argued over putting up shelters and setting pots to cook. Wukong folded up the fire-shield, sprang to the Southern Gate of Heaven and handed it back. "Many thanks, many thanks!" The king took it, well pleased. "I was just worrying you would never return my treasure — and here you bring it." Wukong laughed. "They call it 'borrow well, return well, and borrowing again is easy'." Wukong took his leave and returned to the meditation hall. The Tang Monk was still fast asleep. "Master," he called, "it is day. Time to rise." The Tang Monk woke and got to his feet. "So it is." The Tang Monk dressed, opened the door and stepped out — and started to see the towers and halls all fallen in ruin. "There was a fire last night," said Wukong. "You were sound asleep, so old Sun shielded the meditation hall and did not wake you." The Tang Monk reproached him. "If you had the power to shield this hall, why did you not put out the fire in the others?" Wukong laughed. "You do not know it, Master: that old monk set the fire to burn us alive so he could keep the cassock. Old Sun saw how black his heart was, and so did not fight the fire." "Then the cassock is burnt?" asked the Tang Monk. "It was in the abbot's room, and the fire never reached there," said Wukong. The two of them hurried toward the back. The monks were still lamenting when they saw master and disciple coming toward them. Their souls scattered in terror; they fell to their knees and knocked their heads. "The wronged ghosts have come for our lives! Mercy, sirs — it was none of our doing. It was the old monk who harmed you!" "Wronged ghosts, is it?" Wukong shouted. "Hand over my cassock at once!" The monks crawled nearer, saw that the two were indeed alive, and said in haste, "We have eyes and no pupils — we did not know a true immortal had come among us. The cassock is in the abbot's room." All this while the Venerable Jinchi had been hiding in the abbot's room, torn with vexation: the cassock was gone, and his own monastery had been burnt down. A swift-footed monk came running in. "Grandmaster, the Tang Monk has come to demand the cassock!" At these words Jinchi saw no way forward and no way back. He dashed his head against the wall, fractured his skull, and died where he fell.

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